Letter #105

Dear Mum and Family (for the last time),

Well I cannot believe that it is here now. This is the last email that I will be sending home to you all before I am able to see all of your big smiling faces. I would share a bit about this week with you but I don't really know what to share. It has been a crazy week with so much to do and little time to do it all. It has gone by so fast as well so I don't remember it all. If you have any questions about my week feel free to ask me when I see you. Haha that is so weird to say. 

I really loved all of the wonderful emails you have sent. I don't have much time to reply to them because we are pretty busy, but I wanted to write a letter to you all. Thanks again for all of the time that you all put in to write me each week. I have really appreciated the support while I have been serving the Lord. 
Well I chose not to do a ponderizing scripture for a reason this week because I thought that it would be a good idea for me to bear my testimony to you all through an email instead before you have to put up with it coming directly out of my mouth. Haha

These past two years have strengthened my testimony of the gospel so much. With all of the amazing experiences that I have had while serving the Lord I couldn't see how my testimony wouldn't be strengthened as much as it has. 
I know with all of my heart that this church is Christ's church. I know that the savior has died for each and everyone of us. In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross he went below it all so that he can truly lift us up and bring us back to our Father in Haven one day. 
I know that we do have a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for each and everyone of us. He wants us to return to Him and live with Him again. It takes us using our agency to do righteous things, but I know that because of the savior that we can all make it if we turn to Him and apply His atoning sacrifice. 

I know that Joseph Smith truly was called of God to be a prophet. I know with all my heart that he did receive an answer to prayer in the spring of 1820 in what we call now the sacred grove. He was just and ordinary boy who wanted to know that truth and because God loves us Joseph Smith was able to receive an answer to his prays and I know that we can to as well. 

I know that Joseph Smith was directed to an ancient record of scripture called the Book of Mormon. He truly did translate that record into the Book of Mormon that we have now today. I know that it is the most correct of any books and that it truly does bring us closer to our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ as we read it and apply it in our lives. 
I know that we now have a living prophet today, Thomas S. Monson. I know that he does receive revelation for the church and that he is called of God. Along side him I know that there are twelve apostles who are also called of God to help in directing the church on the earth of Jesus Christ today. 

This gospel is true and I know that we can know it's true by reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon. I have done it and received an answer many times to know that it is true and that a young boy that had little writing could not have written or translated such a book if it wasn't for the power of God. 
I know the fullness gospel of Jesus Christ is found in the Book of Mormon. As we study both the Bible and the Book of Mormon we can learn what we need to do in order to return to live with him and our families for an eternity. 

I am so grateful for my testimony of this gospel and the peace that it brings to me each and everyday in a world full of confusion and chaos. 
Thanks for letting me share my testimony with you one last time before I leave the mission field. I hope you are all not too excited to see me this week. I would say I am not that excited to see you, but I think that would be a lie. Haha. 
Take care and I will see you in a couple days. 
Love, 
Elder Peterson
PS. I will send a song for you all to listen to. I think you will love it. 

Letter #104

Dear Mum and Family,

Well it has been a pretty crazy week and I cannot believe that this is the last full week of the transfer. This last week has been a lot better since we have recovered from the colds that we got. We have been able to see a few new people this last week which has also been a blessing. It seems like people wanted to talk with us a bit more this week. Haha. That's nice for a change.

We have found a few new people that we have set some return appointments to see this week and we are pretty excited to see them and to teach them. It has been great to see some miracles this past week. I hope that this area continues to get better and better as missionaries continue to work with the wonderful people. I hope we can witness some amazing miracles this last week of the transfer. I am excited to finish strong this next week.

Well I too don't have much more to say other than thanks for all of the wonderful emails that you have all sent with your ponderizing thoughts. It has been great to hear from you all and to learn from your emails. Thanks for taking that time to do so each week. It has been a great blessing to have such a wonderful family there to support me through these past two years.

Well I am planning on sending just one email next week. You can all email if you would like and I will read them, but don't worry if you don't want to. Also I think you can do your own ponderizing scripture if you would like. I want to do something special for my last spiritual thought next week, but you will have to wait to see what it is.

I hope that you are all doing well and that you are enjoying you last week without me. Soon enough I will be back to bug you all once again. Haha. I think I have learned a few more tricks to give you all a harder time here and there. Haha. I hope that you are all prepared. If not you better start preparing. Haha
Well here is my last thought for my ponderizing scripture as a missionary. I hope that you enjoy it. I have really enjoyed all of your thoughts on this scripture this past week.

Spiritual Thought

I have loved this past week and the opportunity to have thought about the scripture in  Ether 12:27. Lots of different things have stuck out to me a d I hope to explain well what I have learned this past week.
Obviously the scripture is Ether 12:27 which reads:
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
There is one word in particular that has stuck out to me the most as I have been pondering this scripture and that word is humble. I think it truly is the main point of this scripture.
At the beginning of this verse the Lord speaks and he says, "if men come unto me I will show unto them their weaknesses."  It is requiring us to act in order for us to know our weaknesses so that we can improve. That takes a great deal of humility.
If we are prideful then we "...put greater trust in oneself than in God or in His servants." (PMG 121)  We are given weaknesses so that we "may be humble."
(Ether 12:27)
So after pondering this scripture I wanted to share a few things about humility and what I have learned about humility throughout the time that I have had to study it.
I believe the greatest definition of humility comes from True to the Faith. It reads:
"To be humble is to recognize gratefully your dependence on the Lord--to understand that you have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that your talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that you know where your true strength lies."
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The greatest example of any Christ like attribute is obviously the Savior. There are so many examples of humility throughout His earthly ministry that we can learn from. I think the greatest example of humility from the Savior is shown during his suffering in Gethsemane.
As he went to the Garden of Gethsemane he told His three disciples that came with him to wait and to pray. The Savior "...went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. 26:39)
There are times in our own lives that we may be suffering in some way or another. Those times happen to us all. It is apart of our earthly experience. It seems during these times of despair we turn to our Heavenly Father in prayer the most. Sometimes after we make it through those hard times we tend to forget about prayer again until we have another trying time.
I want to share one more example of the Savior’s humility that is shown. It is not during a time that he is suffering so it shows that the Savior always recognizes that Heavenly Father is with him and that he is ever grateful for his help. It is found in John 11 when Christ raises Lazarus from the dead.
Lazarus had been laid in a tomb and had been there for four days by the time he got there. (John 11:17)  To make a long story short the Savior went to the tomb and when he got there He asked them to remove the stone that was in front of the tomb. They did so and while they were doing it the Savior says a pray out loud in which he says:
"...Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 11: 41-42)
He then raises Lazarus from the dead and there is much rejoicing I believe.
The Savior praying before raising Lazarus shows great humility. He wasn't praying for power or authority because he had already had it. He was praying to thank Heavenly Father for always listening to Him. The Savior also showed that He and the Father are one in purpose when he said that the Father had sent him there.
In 3 Nephi 12:48 it reads:
"Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect."
We are to strive to become perfect like our Christ and our Father in Heaven. In order to do so we need to progress spiritual and to come unto Christ. He is the only way we can be perfected. (Moroni 10:32) Just as Bruce R. McConkie once said

"All progression in spiritual things is dependent upon the attainment of humility."
I know that as we all strive to obtain humility in our lives then we will start to see those weaknesses that we may have turn into strengths. And with those strengthens we will be able to bless many lives.

 I hope that you all have a great week and try your best to hold out one more week without getting into trouble, especially you mum. Hahah
Have a great week and take care.
Love,
Elder Peterson

Elder Peterson
June 2016

Letter #103

Dear Mum and Family,

Well this week has been a little slow for us. My companion and I caught a cold the beginning of the week and it didn't want to leave us until this week.  So that has really slowed us done a bit this past week. We are doing a lot better now though and should be having a better week this week. It seems like there is something going around with everyone over here. There have been quite a few people sick lately. 

We have been able to do a bit of finding this week and have had a bit of success. We have found some people who will hopefully meeting with us this week, which is always good for us. It is a pretty hard time at the moment for us, but we are doing our best and that is what matters the most. It has been a pretty good week though. It went by so fast though. I don't remember any week going as fast as this one has just gone. 

It sounds like everyone is doing great and is keeping busy and hopefully out of trouble. It seems like there are some exciting things going on and you are all enjoying yourselves. At least you are trying to stay out of trouble. Haha. At least mum is getting older so that means she won't have as much energy so it's easier to keep her out to of trouble. Haha. I am glad that you enjoyed your birthday this week though mum. I hope you didn't get too spoiled on your birthday. 

 It is a pretty big thing about Britain voting out of the EU. There haven't been any changes that I know of.  From what they are saying it is going to be about 3 years before there will be any big changes.  It is a big topic over here though so it is a good conversation starter that's for sure. Everyone over here has mixed opinions. Some like the change and others don't. I think you get that with anything big like that. 

Well I don't have a lot of time because we went to Birmingham today and I bought my second suit for home. That is all the shopping I have to do now. I am so glad because I still am not a big fan of shopping. Haha. It was great to go and see Birmingham again though. I can't believe how much it has changed since the last time I was there which was in my first area. There were a lot of changes. 
So we spent a bit of time there and now we are heading off to a members house for a BBQ for the 4th of July. She is so kind in throwing s little party for us American missionaries. Haha. So we are off to there now since it is a pretty long bus ride for us to get there. Sorry I don't have much time to email. 

Here is the thought for this week and I hope that you have a great week. Thanks for all that you do. 

Weekly Thought
I have really learned a lot from the scriptures that we had to Ponderize this week.  I have to admit that it caught me by surprise when Mum said that I chose the scripture this week. I quickly chose a scripture that I had read recently hoping that it was something that could teach us all something. From reading a few of your responses I have learned a lot and it seems like you have as well. 
As you already know the scripture was found in 2 Nephi 2:16 which reads
"Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other."
It is pretty obvious that we learn that we have agency, or the freedom to chose, what we want. It is given to us before this earth life and it is not taken from us. There are good and bad choices thrown at us everyday. It is left to us to chose which path we want to take.  With each path there are consequences and by the choices we make will determine the consequences we receive. 
The thing that has hit me the most ask have been thinking of this verse comes from a parable that the Savior teaches. It is the Parable of the Sower. I am sure that you all know of this parable. 
The parable is found in Mathew 13:3-8. 

3 "And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold."

As we learn from the  parable, the soil is our individual selves. The seed is the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is either able to grow in our lives because we have "good soil" or not able to grow because we have bad soil. The choices that we make determine what type of soil the gospel is planted into our lives. 
For example we might have not made the best of choices and we could have a few weeds that are springing up in our lives.  These things "choke" that gospel seed and it is not able to grow.  We need to do our part to repent so that those weeds can be plucked up and the good seed can grow. 
We may not have the gospel deeply planted in our lives because there are stones that are keeping the roots from growing deeper. We need to work to get those stones removed so that the gospel can be deeply rooted. Then when we face trials the gospel is able to be firmly planted and our faith won't be shaken. 
Maybe our hearts are a little hard towards different things in the gospel.  We need to work to soften up the ground, to humble ourselves, so that the soil will be ready for the seed. 
Maybe we do have seeds planted in good soil. We need to remember that weeds still like to grow in good soil and that the soil does start to get hard at times.  We need to make sure that we continually are plucking weeds out and taking good care that the soil doesn't go bad. We all know individually what things our soil needs to be able to produce a good harvest. 
Dallin H. Oaks said:

"It is up to each of us to set the priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful."
We have been given our agency to choose what we want. We can chose to let our soil get out of hand by not weeding it, plowing it, giving it the nutrients that it needs etc. Or we can chose to do things in our lives that will keep the soil good so that the gospel can continue to grow and be strengthened in our own lives. 
It all comes down to the choices that we make each and everyday. I know that when we do take care our "soil" in our lives then eventually we will be able to gather the fruit at the harvest. That fruit is explained in Lehi's dream as something that is "desirable to make one happy..." and " it fills our soul with exceedingly great joy."
(1 Nephi 8: 10, 12)
The fruit that is spoken of is eternal life with our families and our Father in Heaven. That is "the greatest of all the gifts of God."  (D&C 14:7)  That gift is obtained through our obedience to the commandments of God and through how well we endure to the end of this life. 

I love this verse in the hymn "True to the Faith"
We will strive to be found worthy
Of the kingdom of our Lord,
With the faithful ones redeemed
Who have loved and kept his word. Yes!
( Hymn #254)

I know that as we do "strive to be found worthy" to live in the kingdom of God we will be making the right choices that will keep our soil good. I hope we can all have living in God's kingdom as our end goal in life and that we can strive to obtain it.
I am grateful for all of your wonderful letters and I hope that you continue to have a wonderful summer break. 
Thanks for all your love and support. 
Love,

Letter # 102

Dear Mum and Family,

Happy Birthday Mum!!  I know that it is not your birthday today, but obviously I can't email you on Tuesday so I thought I would just tell you Happy Birthday today. I also sent your letter quite a while ago so I don't know why it is taking so long for it to get there. I hope that it gets to you before your birthday. If not I guess you will have to be patient and wait just a bit longer. 

It sounds like it has been a really eventful week for you all. I bet you are looking forward to a week to relax a bit because you have been all over the place. I am glad that Caden is keeping mum and dad young because someone needs to. Mum is turning the big 50 this week so someone needs to keep her younger. Haha   I hope that you still go on those bike rides with me even though you will be older. Haha

We have been trying our best to stay busy. We have been doing a lot of finding like I said that we were going to be doing. We have been able to contact a few people that are interested to see us again this week. I hope that they do actually see us and don't cancel on us. That is what we have had to deal with for quite some time now and it is pretty annoying. That is the joys of the mission though. Can't do much about people having the freedom to choose. 

Last Pday we were together as a district. We went to a place called merry hill shopping centre because a few missionaries needed to get a few things. So while we were there I got a few things as well because there were some nice sales of things that I wanted. All I have to get now is a suit and I am finally done with all the shopping. So yeah we spend a good chunk of the day there. We had lunch at Pizza Hut which was an all you can eat which was pretty nice. Not as good as America Pizza Hut though. Haha

I don't have much more to say. Everything is going pretty well over here. Hopefully we have a good week this week. It will be a great week if people will actually meet with us. That would be a blessing. Haha

Well I guess I will share my thought on the ponderizing scripture this week. I have tried to avoid what you wanted me to talk about. Haha. Nice try mum. You can't fool me. 

 Weekly Thought
As I have been thinking of this scripture a bit I have focused a bit more on the things that aren't really plainly talked about in these verses. The main point that sticks out is marriage, which is easy to read. Because I know mom chose this and wanted me to talk about that I decided to think of other things that we need to do to inherit the celestial kingdom. For some of us marriage might be a ways in the future, like me for example, and it might have past for others. 
There is more than just being married in order to live with our Heavenly Father in the celestial kingdom. As I was thinking about this I came across some scriptures found in D&C 76: 50-70 that stuck out to me. In this section of scriptures it is talking about those who have will "come forth in the resurrection of the just". 
When the savior comes there will be two major resurrections. There will be the resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the unjust. Joseph Fielding Smith explained a little bit about the resurrection of the just in which he states. 
"In modern revelation given to the Church, the Lord has made known more in relation to this glorious event. There shall be at least two classes which shall have the privilege of the resurrection at this time: ‘First, those who shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever’; and second, honorable men, those who belong to the terrestrial kingdom as well as those of the celestial kingdom."
Every single person will be resurrected on this earth. That is a gift that was given to everyone because of the Savior’s sacrifice and because Heavenly Father loves us. What we do in this life will determine where we go as a resurrected being after this life and when we will be resurrected. 

I love verse 51 in D&C 76. It talks about the first step we need to take in order to live with our Father in Heaven on the celestial kingdom. It reads

"They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given"

This is the first commandment that we are given to follow. We need to gain a testimony of the Savior by exercising faith and repenting of our sins and the be baptized by immersion just like the Saviour. (Mathew 3:13-17) 

Because of the Fall of Adam and Eve we too are mortal and we make mistakes. Our loving Heavenly Father has prepared a way that we can be cleansed and eventually live with him in the Celestial kingdom and that is through the Savior Jesus Christ. 
When we are baptized we are cleansed from all impurities. Because we all sin we all need to continually repent. We are able to do this through the sacrament each week. As we partake of the sacrament each week we are witnessing to the Father that we remember Christ and are willing to follow His commandments. 

We are given many commandments and when we chose to be baptized we are showing that we will follow the commandments that have been given us. By following these commandments we are able to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord in which we can eventually enter into the celestial kingdom. It takes a lot of effort and guidance from our loving Heavenly Father. He is there to help us, but when we turn away from Him we can't receive His guidance. He will not force us to listen to Him. 
Throughout my mission I have grown to love the scripture found in D&C 58: 27-28. It reads 
"27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."
We are given agency, or the freedom to choose.  We need to make sure that we do righteous things with that agency that we have been given. Like I said the Lord will not command us to do everything.  He trusts us that we will do righteous things and when we are stuck He will help us. 

I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and His plan for all of us. I know that he does have a plan for us. Many around us think that that this life is a waste of time and that there really isn't a purpose to life. Because if the Gospel of Jesus Christ being restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and because we have a living Prophet today, I know that there is a purpose to this life. 

Just like Alma 34:32 says:
"32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
Our purpose in life is to prepare to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the celestial kingdom. I know that as we follow the commandments given to us we can truly accomplish that. 

I hope that we all can have living together as families in the celestial kingdom as a goal and that we are doing what we can as individuals to meet that goal. I love the gospel and I know that trough it this is all possible. 
I hope that you all have a great week. Thanks for all you do. 
Love,
Elder Peterson

Letter # 101

Dear Mum and Family,

I just want to say Happy Father's Day to my most favorite dad. Haha. I hope that you were treated like a king on your special day. If it was up to me I think this whole week should be Father's Week and you should be treated like a king all week. I don't know how well that will go down, but it's worth a shot. Haha

It sounds like you are all enjoying the summer break. I think you are not having enough fun though. Maybe you should spend a bit more of your free time doing fun things. Haha. I am messing with you. It sounds like you are having a blast with all the different activities that you are all up to. I hope that it doesn't get old too fast. I wouldn't want you to want to be back in school. Haha yeah right!!  I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Well it has been a pretty good week for us here in Stourbridge. It has been a challenge in a few ways, but we have pushed through it and have made it to another Pday. It is always nice to have a Pday to take a bit of a break. 
One of my favorite experiences this past week was when I went to Woodsetton on exchange with another missionary. His name is Elder Nicotra and he is from Italy. He is a great guy and I enjoyed the day I was able to spend with him and to learn from him. 
While on exchange we went to an investigators house to teach them. It is a part member family that has been taught for a good amount of time by the missionaries. The father is a member and the mom is not. The kids are too young to be baptized just yet. 

As we were walking to their house we didn't know what to really teach them because like I said they have been taught for a while and have been taught all the lessons. So we started to think about what they might need. Elder Nicotra told me a bit about them, but I have never met them before so I didn't know what to really talk about. We came to the conclusion that we should talk about the spirit and receiving and answer to our prayers. That is something that she was kind of struggling with at the moment. 

We got there and had a great time getting to know them. They are such a nice couple and it was fun speaking with them. We then got to the follow up questions like, how is your Book of Mormon reading?  How is your praying?  This type of questions. We kept talking about that for some time and then I had the prompting to ask about baptism. 
I asked if she has spoke about baptism with the missionaries. She said she had and there was nothing she had against being baptized. Her husband wanted her to be baptized obviously because he is a member. I felt the spirit come into the room as we talked a bit about it. I then felt like we needed to discuss a date for her baptism that she could work towards. We talked about it and we decided to let her and her husband talk about it after we left. They said they would text us with a date after they discussed it together. 

Well they have set a date for August 6th. I felt so much joy as I heard that was the date they had decided to work towards. It was s great experience for me and I know that she is going to make that date. She knows and understands all of the gospel. There are a few habits that she needs to quit and that date will give her plenty of time to work at those. I am so exited for the Elders in Woodsetton for that exciting time. 
One thing I am so grateful for is the experiences that I have had with the spirit while on my mission. If there is one thing I have learned is how the spirit works with me personally in so many ways. It is definitely something that will be a benefit to me for the rest of my life. That has definitely been a great blessing to me for the rest of my life. Yeah I had spiritual experience before my mission. I wouldn't have had these same experiences if I didn't come on my mission and they have taught me so much. 
I am in so much debt to my Heavenly Father. He blesses me so much and there is no way I will ever be able to repay Him. I am also so grateful for the testimony that I have about my Heavenly Father and how much He loves me personally and for the love He has for everyone. I am positive we don't recognize all He does for us. There is just so much that happens that goes unnoticed sometimes. 

I have just finished reading section 110 this morning. I hope that you are able to be keeping up because it is going fast and the sections have been pretty long recently. It is crazy how much you can learn for them though. There is just too much to take in all at once. It is good though and I am enjoying it. 
Well I think my letter is getting too long. I haven't even shared my thought for you all this week. I better get to that before I bore you all. I will try to keep it short for you this week. I know you struggle to stay awake sometimes through my thoughts. Good thing you have all week to read them. Haha

Weekly Thought 
This week’s scripture has taught me so much.  I am thankful for the thoughts you gave on this scripture. They have also taught me many things. I have really grown to love ponderizing as we have learned and shared together things we have learned.  
The scripture this week was pretty short, but there is so much to learn from it. 
"After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come."
It is interesting that Luke is the only Gospel writer to have written about Christ calling seventy to assist in the work they the twelve does. To preach and prepare the way for the savior to come again. 
The savior called apostles and seventy then and he does the same now, for " he is the same yesterday, today, and forever."  (1 Nephi 10:18). We are so blessed to have them on the earth to proclaim the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and to help strengthen us all. 
As I have been reading about the seventy and the roles they play in preparing others for the second coming, I couldn't help think of something more important than that of a Seventy. "The family is the fundamental unit in the church, and home is the most important place for gospel learning. No other organization can take the place of the family." (True to the faith p.34)
While there are lots of callings to help strengthen each other in our wards, we have an important role as part of a family to help those in our families. The gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings us together. As it says in the Family Proclamation to the World:  
"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
These things are what brings a family together and helps them to all obtain the celestial kingdom one day and to live together forever. In many of our homes there is the saying "our family can be together forever".  Whether that happens or not depends on the choices that each individual family member makes. 
We are blessed to have a living Prophet and Apostles, a long with seventy, who are called to prepare the world for the second coming of the Savior. As we listen to their words and apply them in our lives as individuals, and as a family, we will be able to live together forever after this life.  What a great blessing that is. We know and are so blessed to have a knowledge of our loving Heavenly Fathers plan for us and our families. I hope we can all look at ourselves individually and ask "What am I doing to bless my family?"  
I know with all my heart that the Savior lives and because of Him we will continue to live.  As it says in the Book of Mormon :
 "...there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ."  (Mosiah 16:8)
I know that to be true. I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. He wants us to be with our families forever. He wants us to return to Him and feel of that wonderful joy and peace. The Savior has made it possible for that all to happen. 
Heavenly Father does love us tremendously and I know that through many blessings that he has given to me. How blessed I am for the gospel in my life and the peace it brings to my heart amongst all the confusion and chaos in the world today. 
I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for taking the time to write an email this week to your favorite brother and son. I hope you are blessed for taking that time.  It is a blessing to me to know that I have an amazing family that loves me and I hope that you all feel my love for you. 
Have a great week. Try to stay out of trouble. Haha
Love,
Elder Peterson

Chicken, meat with chips and mayo
England food
June 2016